Hugh Jackman talks turning down James Bond

Logan reunites Hugh Jackman with The Wolverine director James Mangold and also stars Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen, Eriq La Salle, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Elise Neal. The Logan star revealed in a recent interview with Variety that producers looked to him when Pierce Brosnan stepped down from the role, but he decided not to take the job because he thought the scripts were too "unbelievable".

The 49-year-old has told Variety: "I was about to do X-Men 2 and a call came from my agent asking if I'd be interested in Bond".

Eventually, Daniel Craig stepped in to play James Bond with "Casino Royale" in 2006.

Explaining why ultimately refused to play the tuxedo-clad James Bond, Jackman revealed, "I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and insane, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real".

Oddly enough, after Jackman turned down the role, the Bond movies were re-launched with Craig becoming the new face; which meant no more invisible cars and a modern approach to the spy thriller. Finally, Daniel Craig reportedly confirmed that he will reprise the role as 007. He would have been balancing the X-Men franchise and the James Bond franchise at the same time, which would be incredibly hard for any actor, which is part of the reason he turned down the role.

There is certainly a difference looking back between the Wolverine we see in Logan and the one in 2000's X-Men, but the character has evolved over time so perhaps Jackman is selling himself a little short.

"I always tried to do different things". "People wanted me to play that kind of hero part exclusively", he said. "You just have to sign on". The untitled next James Bond movie has a November 8, 2019 release date.